Whibley Takes Second-Straight GNCC Win in Kentucky
Russell scores first-ever XC2 win

FMF Suzuki's Paul Whibley is on fire in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series. The New Zealander followed his muddy GNCC win a few weeks ago with another in completely dry conditions at the Weekend Warrior Spartan GNCC in Kentucky. While GNCC points leader David Knight crashed back to a fifth-place finish, Husqvarna's Glenn Kearney and Whibley's team-mate Joshua Strang rounded out the top three, with Knight's Red Bull KTM team-mate Nathan Kanney fourth.

The hot, fast, and rough conditions took a toll on the field after three-hours of racing, but Whibley, known for his endurance, managed to grab the lead on the last lap, edging in front of his team-mate Strang once again. "It was rough and I had to ride hard, but I think I could have maybe gone another lap," said Whibley. "But I'm not sure, because it was rough and I had the hammer down because I wanted to hold on for the win."

The entire pack was close throughout the day until fatigue finally set in late in the game and spread the field apart. After FMF Suzuki's Charlie Mullins grabbed the Racer X Holeshot Award, Knight eventually grabbed the lead but had to withstand heavy pressure from Strang and Kearney. Eventually Knight crashed hard and lost time, and also bent up his bike. "I saw it and it was a pretty hard crash, he was ping-ponging off of some trees," said Kearney.

Kearney was thrilled to get back to the podium for the first time in a year. It also marked the first-time in decades that a Husky made the GNCC podium.

For even more history, the podium positions were taken by a New Zealander and two Australians, a first-ever all-international GNCC podium.

In the XC2 Lites class, Powersports GrafX/KTM's rookie Kailub Russell scored a breakthrough victory, his first pro win. Russell had to outduel Monster Energy/Andrews Yamaha's Dustin Gibson, who grabbed the Thumpertalk.com Holeshot Award and finished second. Monster Energy/Kawasaki's Andrew Matusek returned to the podium with third after fighting the pain of a broken foot, and even led early in the event.

Class points leader Thad DuVall dropped from the race early in the day with mechanical troubles.

The Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series continues in two weeks with the Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC.



David Knight
Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team

Eventful race results in fifth place finish for Knight at US GNCC Round 7

It wasn’t quite the result he’d hoped for, but all things considered a fifth place result wasn’t all that bad for David Knight at round seven of the US GNCC Series. Starting well before quickly moving to the front of the of the XC1 Pro class, the series points leader struck his head as he raced under a fallen tree that lay across the track, which severely de-tuned the Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider and in part resulted in him failing to finish on the podium.

Third as he left the start Knight moved past his KTM team-mate Nate Kanney and Suzuki’s Charlie Mullins within no time at all to take an early lead in the Spartan GNCC - a lead that he held for the remainder of the opening lap. Feeling comfortable out front and having opened up a small 45 second gap at the head of the field Knight looked to be headed towards yet another US GNCC race win. But on lap two things didn’t quite go to plan as Knight was left dazed, and a little confused, having bashed his head against a fallen tree.

Feeling like he’d been ‘knocked stupid’ and having troubles seeing properly Knight decided to slow his pace and follow Australia’s Josh Strang while he recovered from the unexpected blow. Soon feeling like he was ready to move back to the front once again Knight found himself struggling with the front end of his KTM – something later traced to a badly damaged front mousse caused by the many square edge bumps and high temperatures.

With Australian Glenn Kearney and New Zealander Paul Whibley having caught him during the later stages of the race Knight’s hopes of winning the race ended half way around the final lap as he performed a perfect flying ‘W’ after he hit a rock fired up from the rear wheel of Strang’s bike. Ending up crashing and getting his foot stuck between his bike’s rear tyre and silencer, Knight realised that his chances of victory were well and truly over and settled for fifth.

David Knight: “All things considered I’m not too disappointed with fifth. Even with banging my head I felt like I could win. But when I crashed near the end of the race that was me finished. It’s a bit frustrating because I felt good off the start. I was off the line well and quickly moved into the lead. My front mousse started to break up early in the race, which made things harder as I struggled with the front end a little bit.

“I’m not sure what happened really when I smacked my head on the tree. It knocked my silly for a while, which is why I decided to follow Josh for a while. Although Glenn and Whibley had caught me I felt like I could still win the race. But when I crashed I knew that was it. It’s disappointing, but that’s racing sometimes. I still have a good points lead so the race wasn’t a compete disaster.”



KTM Racing
Red Bull KTM rider and current series point's leader, David Knight, and his team-mate Nate Kanney had a successful weekend at the seventh round of the GNCC series, both finishing inside the top five.

Although it wasn't the dominating race weekend most fans are used to seeing Knight pull off, he did start out well, rounding the first turn in 2nd place while Kanney was right behind in 3rd. For the first few laps, the two Red Bull KTM Factory riders stayed within the top three on this fast-paced course. At one point Knight escaped with the lead as he and Josh Strang battled back and forth for that front spot.
 
Unfortunately, around lap 4, Knight hit the ground hard after a big crash which knocked him back quite a few positions. He remounted, but was a little shaken from the crash and only managed to fight his way back into 5th at the finish. Kanney, finished one position better in 4th for the weekend. Despite missing a victory at the Spartan race, Knight still holds a large overall point lead, while this weekend helped Kanney to move closer to the top five in overall points.
 
Red Bull KTM Factory rider Justin Williamson had a decent 4th place start in the XC-2 main event. He stayed within the top five for a while before he fell slightly off pace losing a few positions as he battled through the heat and dust to remain in the front pack. Near the end of the three hour race, he had settled into a comfortable 7th place position where he would finish overall.

FRE KTM Factory ATV riders Adam McGill and Taylor Kiser made their way to Kentucky for the seventh round of the ATV GNCC Series where hot weather and a long day awaited.

Both FRE KTM Factory riders got a decent jump off the line as the herd of riders neared the first turn. Kiser almost had the holeshot nailed down until a rider hit him from behind pushing him into another group of riders. Kiser and the riders he collided with were stuck together and lost precious seconds untangling from each other. Meanwhile, McGill was sitting in 4th looking for another good run.
 
Now back on the track, Kiser had begun to move through traffic to gain back positions he had lost on the start. He had moved up into the top twenty and was neck and neck with another rider down a fast straightaway heading toward the woods. When they neared the turn to enter back into the woods Kiser and the rider smashed into each other causing both riders to go down. After the crash, Kiser came in for a pit stop to grab a new helmet and goggles. During this time, his team-mate, McGill was having a pretty good run up front. McGill had moved into 2nd and even led for a bit in the first few laps but dropped back to 4th after getting a stick wedged in his front end. He pit on the third lap to quickly get the stick removed before going out for lap four.
 
On the fourth lap, Kiser was busy ploughing through traffic trying to gain as many positions as he could before the checkered flag. McGill was back in 4th and had started to ride a comfortable race until he hit debris that derailed his chain, broke his sprocket bolts and bent the sprocket. The damage done to his KTM was enough to take him out of the race.
 
At the finish, Kiser had made up an incredible distance and managed to salvage a respectable 10th place class finish. With seven rounds down McGill sits 2nd in points while Kiser hangs on to 7th.



Husqvarna Racing
HUSQVARNA’S STARS AND STRIPES SUCCESS: GNCC SECOND PLACE FOR KEARNEY

It was an amazing week end for the Summers Husqvarna Team in Sparta, Kentucky. Thanks to a brilliant performance Glenn Kearney brought his Husky TXC 450 straight to the podium in a humid and hot week end. Glenn was only 47 seconds behind the leader, proving that his TXC is not only fast, but reliable and durable.

The result comes after 20 years since Mark Hyde finished on the podium, riding on Husqvarna in the 1988 GNCC series. Of course the result was a pure consequence of the hard work that the team managed by Scott Summers has done throughout the season.

"I’m so satisfied with the race,” Australian rider Kearney declared from the podium. “I’ve always been in the fight for the first positions and today I finally got to the second place. I’ve found a perfect riding feeling with the TXC and the podium is definitely paying back for the hard work done.”

Now Kearney is in 7th place in the provisional classification after 7 rounds.

The team also celebrated the first place of Scott Summers in the Veteran class, gained on a Husky TXC 450.

The next round of the GNCC will be held on June 21 and 22 in Yadkinville, NC.